How Startup Fundraising Works | Startup School

YC Group Partner Brad Flora has seen startup fundraising from every angle: as a founder, as one of the most prolific angel investors in Silicon Valley, and now as a YC Group Partner. Brad has coached hundreds of companies on fundraising. In this talk, he shares stories and advice on how modern startup fundraising works.

Paul Graham Fundraising Essays:
http://www.paulgraham.com/fundraising.html
http://www.paulgraham.com/startupfunding.html
http://www.paulgraham.com/convince.html
http://www.paulgraham.com/herd.html

Geoff Ralston’s Fundraising Guides:
https://www.ycombinator.com/library/4A-a-guide-to-seed-fundraising

YC Fundraising Resources:
https://www.ycombinator.com/library/2u-how-to-build-your-seed-round-pitch-deck
https://www.ycombinator.com/library/6q-how-to-pitch-your-startup
https://www.ycombinator.com/library/71-how-to-get-meetings-with-investors-and-raise-money
https://www.ycombinator.com/library/4O-raising-money-online-advice-for-startups
https://www.ycombinator.com/library/3u-different-types-of-investors-and-their-incentives

Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
Work at a startup: https://www.ycombinator.com/jobs

Chapters (Powered by https://bit.ly/chapterme-yc) –
00:00 – Intro
00:27 – Fundraising resources
02:13 – 7 fundraising myths
04:06 – Raising money is glamorous
06:51 – The need to raise money before starting a startup
10:10 – My startup need to be impressive to raise money
13:56 – Raising money is complicated, slow, and expensive.
18:04 – I am going to lose control of my company
21:58 – I need a fancy network to raise money
23:43 – If investors reject my startup its a bad startup
26:35 – Wrap up – This isn’t for you